"Guts Ishimatsu of Japan retained his WBC lightweight championship for the second time by knocking out Mexican challenger Rodolfo Gonzalez in the 12th round of their 15 round title match. Ishimatsu stopped Gonzalez at 2:23 of the 12th round with the same right hand punch by which he wrested the championship from Gonzalez last April in Tokyo. There were no knockdowns until the 12th round. Ishimatsu kept running, circling to his left, with Gonzalez chasing him but unable to connect with effective punches." -United Press International

Unofficial UPI scorecard through 11 completed rounds - 55-53 Gonzalez

Post fight comments

"Ishimatsu is a dirty fighter. He butted me in the left eye in the 3rd round and I could not see for 4 or 5 rounds. I could not see that right hand punch in the 12th round." -Rodolfo Gonzalez

"We had Ishimatsu run because we did not want him to slug it out in the early stages of the fight with Gonzalez because he is a hard hitter. But we knew Ishimatsu would eventually knock him out." -Eddie Townsend, Suzuki's trainer.

"Gonzalez fought a good fight and was leading. But he could not see because he was bleeding from the cut he suffered in his left eye in the 3rd round from Ishimatsu's butting." -Jackie McCoy, Gonzalez' manager.